Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
10:30 am
David Hanson (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office; Delyn, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1)during proceedings on the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill, in addition to its first meeting at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 6th December, the Standing Committee shall meet—
(a)at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 6th December;
(b)at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 8th December;
(c)at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 13th December;
(d)at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 15th December;
(2)the proceedings shall be taken in the following order: Clauses 1 and 2; Schedule 1; Clauses 3 to 8; Schedule 2; Clauses 9 to 13; Schedule 3; Clauses 14 and 15; Schedule 4; Clauses 16 and 17; Schedule 5; Clause 18; Schedule 6; Clauses 19 to 27; new Clauses; new Schedules; remaining proceedings on the Bill;
(3)the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 15th December.
Sir Nicholas, on behalf of the Committee I welcome you to the Chair, as I will your co-Chairman, Mr. Taylor. I know that you will both serve the Committee well. I welcome the comments that you made at the start of our proceedings. I also welcome all members of the Committee. The Bill deals with extremely difficult and controversial matters and I hope that the Committee can discuss it in a civilised way—I am sure that, under your chairmanship, we will do so.
The programme motion has been agreed by the Programming Sub-Committee. I say to those who were not members of that Committee that, as ever, my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) and his colleagues have, with the usual channels, done a superlative job of assuring Opposition Members that there will be ample opportunity for the Committee to consider the Bill.
The motion allows morning and afternoon sittings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am content for sittings to continue into the evening if hon. Members feel that there is not sufficient time to deal with the matters. I am relatively flexible, if hon. Members wish to do that. I am in the hands of the Opposition in respect of the Bill’s progress. The Government and my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling have deliberately not put knives in the programme; we are content to progress at the speed at which the Opposition wish to take the Bill and the amendments. Again, I am flexible to the extent that our completion date according to the programme order already agreed by the House of Commons’ is 4 pm on 15 December. Within that time frame, I am content to accept the pace at which at which members of the Committee wish to progress.
With those remarks, I commend the programme motion to the Committee. I wish you well in the Chair, Sir Nicholas, as I do members of the Committee in our deliberations during the next two weeks.